First steps with GM:S

Last year a friend and I teamed up to for the competition I game jam. Both of us started watching youtube videos on gamemaker and a mere two weeks later (both still in highschool so we have too much time on our hands) we created Puberty Paradox as our very first real "project" and entry. I have decided to continue this project and we're planning to change how the game worked entirely.

Our old levels sucked (my fault :s). Every age took place within the same 9 rooms, our attempt at "random level generation" failed completely but... this was my first attempt at coding I don't think it was a bad first try. We did want to have random level generation so I decided to create a generator after the contest.

Old levels:

New level generator:Far from perfect but the basic concept is there. (Green is start room, red is boss room)

To the sandbox - Trying out different fighting mechanics

Me and my co-creator discussed our game after the contest and came to the conclusion that we made a lot of mistakes.

-Combat mechanicsThe player had access to 3 different blocks and only 1 attack, this meant that 75% of our combat mechanics didn't give the player any power over the situation at all. To make things even worse: Our indicators that tell you what block to use gives the player no time to react and also has no clear indication of when the enemy is actually "hitting" you. The first version ended up being a guessing game that had you covering your eyes and lying down every time a rogue poop charged at you.

-EnemiesWe realised that we had made a few strong enemies instead of making a lot of weaker enemies. This meant that the player didn't get to "play" or "win" often and contributed to the annoying "grind" factor that the game had (and the grind didn't even reward the player - Ouch!).

After discussing all of the above I created a sandbox space ( we do not own the background image) and starting changing our blocks into attacks.

Old combat:Block block block...

New punch:The old punch gave no indication of its hit range so I decided to make it launch a projectile. We have made a super-baby

New "jump":The old jump was just another block - I used it as my main movement ability while traversing the sandbox.

New "crouch" (now with screenshake):The old crouch was a block. Now it is a baby slamming his face into the ground and then creating projectiles with his mind that will destroy anything they hit!

To do list:- Rework the item system so that items actually have a visible impact on gameplay.- Change block mechanic.- MORE ENEMIES!- Smash everything we're testing now together into a "new" game.- Implement new level system.

The screen shake is a nice touch, though I feel like it happens a tiny bit before it should. I'd have to go frame by frame to make sure, but it currently feels like the screenshake happens slightly before the explosion appears, whereas, if there is going to be a sequence/order to it, the explosion should probably happen first. (Light travels faster than shockwaves/compressed air/sound.)

it currently feels like the screenshake happens slightly before the explosion appears

Thank you for the comment :) , I am adding a small delay between explosion and shake right now. I must however clarify that every time you hit an enemy it does give shake that might give the illusion of early screen shake.

Blaster Faster Update!I've gone off course and starting by adding to new features (on my own):

- Boss Fight (Starts after 300 points, in the gif it appears instantly but I did change so that it floats down).

- Shield system (Excess armour powerups can now be used to "overheal" the ship, Shield effect included!)

Defeating the boss now also gives you a teddy bear. In your next run you can pick up this teddy and gain the power to gain energy from fallen foes and launch vampiric bullets that will give you more energy. This creates a boss shredding loop of absolute destruction!

I have also added A NEW BOSS:I have finally managed to get my GM:S to let me save the game properly. I now have a itch.io page with an operational download (hopefully). Feel free to give criticism or just leave a comment.Here it is:https://okkie.itch.io/spyc

The energy pickup being red makes me feel like I'd try to dodge them as they came close to me

I changed them for you :) a lot of my friends agreed on your suggestion (it really does feel better now)

Today I added:2 new enemies to go with my boss and a new menu system that now indicates around which planet you will be playing.

New Menu

More friends!

The new version will be on my itch.io withing the next 48h - haven't tested it properly yet.If I am posting too frequently please let me know and I'll limit my updates to once a week or once every two weeks etc.

This is looking great! The one thing that lets the style down a bit, in my opinion, is the explosion smoke. It kind of just looks like a bunch of circles that have had their resolution shrunk down, instead of looking intentionally designed (like the rest of the art).

This is looking great! The one thing that lets the style down a bit, in my opinion, is the explosion smoke.

Thank you very much @roguecode, I took a shot at making some smoke for you :) I can't decide if it looks better since I've played my game too much and I'm an awful artist soo... yeah.

I've added the final "stage" where a giant asteroid hits you and I'm planning on letting the character get out of his crashed ship and when this happens the game will become a 'platformer' (I want to try make a platformer). Will post that in a week or two.

Thanks for all the input so far - I know having a newbie on the forums might not interest (or may even annoy) most people so I appreciate that there has been feedback :)

It's awesome to see you make progress here! Keep it going, you're on a great trajectory!

You could also consider making a new thread when you make a new project (like Sweethearts). That way, people can more easily reply and give comments on that project without it getting confused/intermingled with the others you're working on.